


Making Magic

by Nillegible



Series: Naruto Magic Week Fills [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Hufflepuff Naruto, Interhouse Friendships, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 08:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19663996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nillegible/pseuds/Nillegible
Summary: Naruto's having a pretty great Fourth-Year at Hogwarts, until Professor Orochimaru curses Sasuke with something weird and Mr. Uchiha tries to murder him for it in the infirmary.(And did Professor Hatake really deflect that curse with his sword? Kakashi's dad is so cool! And has a face! Naruto might never get over this.)





	Making Magic

“Who’s _that?_ ” Naruto asks Kiba, looking up at the Professors’ table. There’s a not-too-old-looking but white-haired man at the table, sitting beside Professor Orochimaru. And _talking_ to Professor Orochimaru. And not dying.

“Someone kidnapped Professor Orochimaru!” he yells, realizing what must have happened. This guy was an impostor! Half of the Hufflepuff table goes silent, turning first to Naruto then to the professor in question. The one looking _down_ at Naruto like he’s a bug that Professor Orochimaru really wants to crush and toss into a poison and doesn’t see why he shouldn’t.

The _normal_ expression for Professor Orochimaru, that is.

“Oh never mind, it’s still him!” Naruto shouts, grinning widely. There’s some nervous titters, and people from the other tables who missed the initial exchange are now starting to look over. The only person laughing, properly laughing, is the guy sitting right next to Professor Orochimaru.

“That,” Kiba whispers, “Is _Hatake Sakumo_ , the White Fang!”

“Hatake like Kakashi-senpai?”

“Yeah, that’s his dad.”

“ _Wow_ ,” says Naruto, staring at the man. “He has a face!”

Kiba drops some more ramen on Naruto’s plate from the serving bowl. It’s Kiba’s way of saying ‘Please stop talking, Naruto,’ and it’s delicious, so he lets himself be distracted by the (excellent) Hogwarts food.

After the feast, Professor Tobirama introduces the new teacher, “This is Professor Hatake. He is taking a break from his work as an Auror because of a recent injury. He will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.” He has some other announcements, mostly rules about the forbidden forest and curfews that Naruto knows already.

Then they’re dismissed, but Naruto doesn’t follow join the mass of students leaving. Kiba’s heading over to see Shino at the Ravenclaw table, but first Naruto has to bounce over to the Slytherin table to greet Neji, who he hadn’t seen on the train. Neji has a bunch of first-year Slytherins with him, as he’s the fifth-year prefect, and he rolls his eyes when Naruto coos at them for being cute. “First years, this is Uzumaki Naruto, he’s very loud so you will be hearing him very often. With practice, you may learn to ignore him. Now follow me, the Slytherin common rooms are in the dungeons.” He shepherds them away, ignoring Naruto’s expression of heartbroken betrayal.

Naruto flops down next to Sasuke after that. “Sasuke, your prefect is being rude to me,” he complains.

“He’s a Hyuuga,” says Sasuke as though that’s all that matters. And hey, Naruto has been trying for four years to convince Sasuke and Neji that it’s _fine_ for them to hate each other's guts but only if it’s not over their last names. He had thought he’d succeeded last year, but Mr.Uchiha must have got to Sasuke over the holidays. He gives his friend a disappointed look that’s ignored completely, then asks, “And how’s Itachi doing?”

Last year’s head boy, widely acknowledged as the brightest student since Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui had left, Itachi had caused a minor scandal when he’d joined the Department of International Magical Cooperation instead of Auror training or the DMLE like the rest of his family. Sasuke had actually _written Naruto a letter_ to complain about the row.

Sasuke shrugs. “He’s moved out from home. He’s living with my cousin Obito. He writes, but-”

“Hey, Naruto! Sasuke!” Sakura drops down on the other side of the table, and Naruto smiles. “Hey, Sakura! How was your summer?”

“It was great!” she says. She gives him a _look_ , one that means, ‘I haven’t seen my boyfriend all summer so get lost Uzumaki,’ in a sort of friendly way, so he stands up, ruffles Sasuke’s hair, and says, “I’ll see you at breakfast, guys.”

He makes a run for it before Sasuke can hit him with a stinging hex for touching his hair.

Naruto scans the great hall then, for more of his friends. There’s one lazy person with a familiar spiky ponytail who’s fallen asleep at the Ravenclaw table. Kiba and Shino are standing beside him, talking to Hinata and Ino. Naruto drops down next to them gleefully. He has a feeling this is going to be a _great_ year. “Hi, guys! Hey, Shikamaru, wake _up._ It’s the welcome feast!”

Waking Shikamaru usually takes a lot of effort, a lot of whinging and shaking and threatening. Naruto’s usually up to it but he stops suddenly, distracted because the new professor has just stood up from the teacher’s table. At his waist is a _really cool_ looking sword.

Shikamaru actually sits up at that, asking blearily, “What happened?”

“Professor Hatake has a _sword._ ”

Naruto watches as he says something to Professor Orochimaru, who rolls his eyes as they both walk out of the room.

When Naruto turns back to his friend, Ino is holding his ponytail, keeping him from getting back to sleep. “No way, Shikamaru. Get up!”

“Let go of me, you crazy woman,” Shikamaru hisses, but Ino just yanks.

“You’ll get up if you know what’s good for you.”

“Go back to the dungeon where you belong,” he says, sitting upright and finally pulling his hair from her grasp. With a put-upon sigh, he gets to his feet. “Coming, Shino?”

Naruto smiles and waves goodbye to the Ravenclaws, then waves to Ino (who’s marching over to Sasuke and Sakura) then heads for the basement with Kiba. Naruto is pleasantly full, the castle is familiar and cheerful.

It’s wonderful to be back.

* * *

Everyone knows that Professor Tobirama wanted to be the DADA professor. He much preferred being Deputy Headmaster under Hashirama when he could do his brother’s work and still teach, and had _hated_ it when Professor Hashirama became the Minister of Magic, leaving the headship to him.

Not a single DADA Professor has lasted more than a year since Professor Tobirama became the headmaster ten years ago, because the man had _standards_. In Naruto’s second year, the headmaster had actually kicked out Professor Gato only two weeks in and substituted himself for all his lessons for the rest of the year. It was the happiest anyone had ever seen him in years.

Which is why everyone is surprised when, on the first day of class, the Headmaster is seated at the back of the class when they enter the DADA classroom, and he’s _smiling._

“Welcome, students. As Professor Tobirama told you at the feast, I am Hatake Sakumo. I’ve heard stories about quite a lot of you already. Most of you might already know me or my son, Kakashi.” All the Hufflepuffs and some of the Ravenclaws nod. “As you can see, we are going to be joined by Professor Tobirama when he is available, particularly during the first unit of the year. The Headmaster has explained to me that your class has studied basic hexes and jinks, and that you have a thorough understanding of most dark-creatures and how to defend yourselves against them?”

There’s a disorganized murmur of assent.

“Excellent!” says the new professor. “This year you will be focussing on dark curses, concentrating on cursed objects.” He waves his wand towards the blackboard, and a list of topics appear on the board. ‘ _Detection of Malicious Intent, Identification Methods, Counter-curses, Effects-_ ” the list goes on, and Naruto grins, it all sounds really cool!

“Does anyone have questions?”

“Yeah, what’s the sword for?” Naruto asks, when it looks like the professor won’t mention it at all. It gets him rolled eyes from his classmates, but they all know him by now so no one complains.

Their professor grins, his eyes crinkling in the corners the way Kakashi senpai’s would sometimes, if he was about to prank you. “Unfortunately, the sword isn’t something I will be teaching you while you’re still in school. Magical blades are difficult to master, and are very much _offensive_ weapons and don’t fall into your defense syllabus for _any_ year.

Naruto’s not the only one who groans in disappointment.

“Now, do any of you know what a sensor is?”

* * *

Defense against the Dark Arts is a _hit_ , even without swords, which is great because Naruto’s still scraping through Transfigurations and outright failing potions. Professor Iruka yells at him in class when his tortoise doesn’t turn into a teapot; it zooms around the class spewing tea at the Gryffindors.

Professor Orochimaru starts hissing in Parseltongue when Naruto’s cauldron explodes for the third time in the same week. It would have been funny, except it was also just really scary, alright? Because Naruto had glanced at that bastard, Sasuke, who was turning explicitly green as the hissing went on, so whatever the professor was saying had to have been so violent that the _resident Uchiha_ found it disturbing.

The very next potions class, Sasuke actually takes the table behind Naruto and Kiba instead of his usual one across the room, and Ino takes the one in front of them. It’s kind of sweet that they care, but also really really scary that they thought he needed it. And when Naruto forgets to add his shrivelfigs, and his potion starts bubbling oddly, Sasuke throws his own figs into the cauldron, possibly saving Naruto’s life. Naruto is so startled by the unexpected kindness that he knocks some porcupine quills into his cauldron by mistake, and there’s an odd _glub glub_ noise as the cauldron melts into a puddle of metallic sludge. Professor Orochimaru grabs him and Kiba by the ears and tosses them out of his classroom.

The next class that day, right after lunch, is Defence with the Ravenclaws, and it’s really obvious that the story of their potions class had spread because Professor Hatake grins at him and Kiba when they enter. He doesn’t mention it though, just launches into his lecture for the day, about how to tell if an object wanted to kill you immediately or would wait a while, first.

The door opens midway through the lesson, and instead of Headmaster Tobirama, Professor Orochimaru strides in. He’s holding a small-sized chest with glowing runes carved into it. Kiba twitches away when the professor walks by, with a really quiet pained noise, like Kuromaru would make if someone pulled his fur. “As you can see, Professor Orochimaru has graciously agreed to help us with our lesson today as Professor Tobirama was summoned to the ministry,” he says cheerfully. He’s possibly the only person in the room who hasn’t noticed that the Potions professor has a murderous aura around him.

“Kiba,” says Professor Hatake. “You flinched when Professor Orochimaru brought the boxes inside. Why?”

Kiba scrunches up his face, “It smelled _disgus –_ I mean, bad,” he says.

“Impossible, I have containment charms,” says Professor Orochimaru.

“Would you come up to my desk please, Kiba.” His friend walks up to the teacher’s table. “Can you try to tell me exactly what you smell from this box?”

Kiba looks pretty disgusted, but he leans closer to take a proper sniff. “I smell…Um. Professor Orochimaru, and something sour, not like lemons like. Um. Spoiled milk? And dried wildflowers, and burned paper, and.” He takes a second sniff and continues the list.

Nothing Kiba describes sounds _that_ disgusting, but Professor Orochimaru looks rather horrified as Kiba speaks.

“…and like…pondweed and slime, and-”

“Thank you, Kiba, that will be enough,” says Professor Hatake, and Kiba scurries back to his seat. Naruto’s not sure if he’s running from the chest or the angry Potions professor.

Professor Orochimaru looks weird. Irritated and a bit…worried? Even Naruto’s not stupid enough to say that out loud though.

“Not nearly as secure as you thought, my dear,” says Professor Hatake, staring down at the box with a slight frown on his face. “No matter!” He grins at all the students, “In today’s lesson, we will be practicing the diagnostic spells that we studied last week. I hope you’ve all brought the scrolls we prepared these last few classes? Excellent! Spread them out flat on your tables. Use temporary sticking charms if you have to.

“All the other supplies are at the back of the classroom, you may take whatever you believe you will require. You will each be receiving a magical object, and you will have to determine the exact curse upon it. Remember all of the methods we’ve studied so far and choose your tools accordingly.”

Naruto and Kiba’s silk-wool curse-breaking scroll had taken them three evenings to do, carefully copying the design that the two Defence professors had finally accepted with the silver and herb-infused ink that they had had to make themselves.

Beside them, Shino spreads out his and Shikamaru’s scroll. Only, it looks like their paper has been glued onto actual silk. “Did you _embroider_ that?” Kiba asks, leaning closer to look at the silvery lines that create the maze and the runes around it.

“I did,” says Shino calmly. “Are you going to use the Cedar incense or Juniper?” he asks. Kiba makes a face because the incense had sent him into a sneezing fit last time. Professor Hatake had insisted it was one of the best safety precautions when dealing with angry magic, though. “Juniper, I guess?”

Once they’ve collected all the elements that they need, Professor Orochimaru comes by and uses his silk wrapped silver tongs to set a jeweled bracelet carefully at the center of their scroll. Shino and Shikamaru get a very gaudy ring with a pink stone. “Activate the ward lines,” the professor says, so Naruto shoots Kiba a glance and casts the spell. Instantly, the lines they’ve inked stir, lighting up and then the maze twists and leaves the plane of the paper, creating a small protective dome of crisscrossed spell-work around the bracelet.

“Wow,” says Naruto, because even though they knew (or well, hoped) this would happen, it looked pretty spectacular.

Professor Orochimaru stares at their scroll for a moment, probably shocked or disappointed that Naruto and Kiba hadn’t gotten themselves cursed. He finally says, “Your scrolls are clearly acceptable. Attempt to identify the curse that I’ve placed on the bracelet.”

“ _He_ cursed them?” Kiba asks. “Then I know what it is, it’s the killing curse.”

“According to Langevin’s Law the killing curse cannot be tied to an object,” says Shino firmly. But he doesn’t look keen on starting the testing process either. Naruto glances at the actual Defence professor, who’s bent over a scroll and explaining why it’s not activating. Kakashi senpai’s _dad_ wouldn’t let them get killed in his class, right?

Naruto grabs his silver chopsticks. “Okay, let’s do this.”

* * *

Naruto is late after the Care of Magical Creatures lesson because the professor took issue with his last essay. When he finally heads inside for dinner, he finds Shino in the entrance hall, clearly waiting for him. “Sasuke is in the hospital wing, he was injured during the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson earlier,” Shino tells him when he sees him.

“Oh shit, what happened?” Naruto asks.

“We are not sure. No one has been allowed within the hospital wing since Professor Orochimaru and Professor Hatake took him there.”

“Where’s Shikamaru?”

“He is with Ino, who is waiting outside the Hospital Wing for news of Sasuke’s recovery with Sakura.”

Naruto wavers, unsure if he should head there directly or if he should be heading inside to get food for all of them.

“Kiba and Hinata will have acquired sustenance, we can proceed to the infirmary,” says Shino.

“Oh, thank Merlin,” says Naruto, and follows Shino toward the hospital wing.

They find a bit of a crowd in the corridor just outside the hospital wing. Someone’s summoned wooden benches and most of Naruto’s friends are arrayed on them, either out of concern for Sasuke or because they don’t want to leave a friend to wait alone. Naruto feels a flash of warmth for Hinata who barely ever speaks to Sasuke but is sitting beside Kiba with a basket from the kitchens. Chouji is passing around butterbeer.

“How is he?” asks once he’s close enough to be heard.

“No further news,” Ino says. “They’ve been inside nearly two hours, now.”

“What _happened?_ ” It’s a bit awful being the last to know, that his friends have all known what happened for hours and he’s been stuck defending his (rather creatively interpreted) homework.

It’s Sakura who answers, “The cursed object Professor Orochimaru gave Sasuke. When he activated his curse-breaking matrix, it blew up in his face.”

“Dark magic, or burns?” he asks, hoping it’s just burns. Uchiha didn’t burn properly, anyway. (Or so Kakashi had said once to Professor Tobirama; that he hadn’t meant to burn the tapestry in that hallway, he was aiming for Obito and that _he_ was fireproof. The professor had muttered something under his breath that Naruto couldn't hear.) Sakura just shrugs, not knowing.

They settle in to wait. Eating and passing around the food that Kiba and Hinata had brought mechanically, more to have something to do than because they were hungry. It’s later, though Naruto’s not sure how _much_ later, when Sasuke’s father, Mr.Uchiha, storms down the hallway. He barely glances at them before he pushes the door to the infirmary open and storms inside.

He’s followed by Mrs. Uchiha, who also looks really worried, but nods at them before she follows after her husband. She’s accompanied by Professor Tobirama – they probably came in through his fireplace – and he looks extremely grim. He too just nods.

It’s not a long time later that there’s the sound of yelling inside, and something like spells hitting stone and Naruto jumps up to see what’s happening. Just as he flings the door open, he hears, “Naruto, _no_ ,” and someone grabs him by the sleeve and pulls, he loses his balance and topples backward and thinks ‘oh _shit’_ because there’s a full-blown duel happening inside and he’d nearly walked into it.

_“You tried to kill my son!”_

There’s a spark of bright red light and he tries to turn and throw himself down on Shikamaru because he doesn’t know what that is and then there’s an odd metallic noise, like someone scratching a knife against a plate and an arm reaches out and steadies him and Shikamaru at the same time. His friend’s jaw has dropped, and Naruto turns around to see Professor Hatake standing with his back to them, his sword drawn and in his hand. Had he. Had he deflected that spell with a _sword_?

He can’t gawp at that as much as he means to though, because _holy shit_ Mr.Uchiha is dueling Professor Orochimaru while Professor Tobirama tries to get them to stop and keep the hospital wing intact at the same time.

“Get out and shut the door,” their Professor snaps and before Naruto can listen (because he’s not suicidal and he really thinks Mr. Uchiha wants Professor Orochimaru _dead_ ) it’s abruptly halted by Mrs. Uchiha shooting Professor Orochimaru in the back with a stunner at the exact same moment that Professor Tobirama conjures a shield between Mr. Uchiha and Orochimaru. Unlike any protego Naruto’s ever seen, this one has glowing blue runes floating in it and he hears Shikamaru gasp.

“ _Leave,”_ the Defence Professor says again and this time the two of them do flee.

Professor Tobirama comes out to talk to them two hours later. “Sasuke will be fine. We’ve stabilized the curse and Sasuke and his parents have been transported to St. Mungo’s. We think he’ll recover within the next three days,” he says.

“Professor?” asks Naruto. “What kind of curse was it?”

The headmaster’s lips thin. He looks tired and very angry, but Naruto has to know. “Not one that the teachers prepared for your lessons. It’s a blood curse, that affects someone’s magical core, popular about three hundred years ago. None of us know how it came to be included in today’s lesson. On that note, Ino, you were the one closest to Sasuke when he was cursed, weren’t you?” She nods.

“I might need you to explain what you saw to the Aurors tomorrow, is that alright?”

“I can do that,” she says.

“Thank you. Please go to bed, all of you. I’ll have someone bring you news as it’s available.”

Naruto expects him to walk away so that he can ask Sakura and Shikamaru what the hell _that_ means, would the bastard really be okay. But Professor Tobirama just stands there, waiting for them to disperse. Naruto exchanges a glance with his friends, who also fidget and look around.

“I can’t let you all stay here,” Professor Tobirama says, and before he can say anything else, Naruto interrupts, “I hate the stupid house rules! I want to stay with Sakura!”

“ _Naruto,”_ he hears hissed behind him, definitely Ino and Shino…and maybe Hinata? The hand on his arm trying to pull him back is probably Kiba, but Naruto shakes him off. “It’s stupid and I don’t want to go,” he says firmly.

The professor holds Naruto’s gaze for a long moment, then nods. “If any of you do want to return to your dormitories, you may. The rest of you follow me.”

Confused, and trading glances, they trudge after him.

Professor Tobirama is _fast_ when he wants to be, so by the time that they catch up he’s standing in front of a small door opposite the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. Before they can ask what he’s doing, he opens the door and ushers them inside.

“So this is the Come and Go Room,” says Sakura looking around curiously. “We’ve been looking for it for years." Naruto flashes her a smile because her voice is slightly unsteady but sounds really determined.

Iruka and I will be staying here, and this is a one-night-only arrangement until we have confirmation that the injuries to Sasuke are reversible, is that understood?” He looks each of them in the eye, then nods. “Very well then,” and then finally he steps out of the room so they can talk.

“You walked into a duel, what did you see?” asks Kiba, now that they’re away from prying eyes and ears. Naruto describes the duel between Professor Orochimaru and Mr. Uchiha, and how Mrs. Uchiha and Professors Hatake and Senju had stopped them.

“So what’s a blood curse, anyway?” he asks, and listens as Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru take turns explaining, eventually

They’re interrupted by a house-elf who appears with hot chocolate and tea, passing out mugs to the children clustered around the fireplace.

* * *

“What on earth are you doing here?” says Professor Tobirama in a very quiet voice, just a breath above a whisper.

“Ipsie told me where to find you when you weren’t in your rooms,” says someone else. Naruto blinks and sits up in his bed, the door’s open and while the rectangle of light lights up Professor Tobirama’s face, the other man’s face is lost in a mess of dark hair surrounded by light.

“We’ll wake someone, come here,” he says, stepping out and pulling the other man with him. He leaves the door open a crack though, possibly so that the sound of the door closing won’t wake anyone up. Naruto doesn’t even have to think about it before he’s creeping down the ladder and over to the slightly open door. He can hear the quiet conversation outside if he concentrates.

“Three different curses, layered on each other, it really doesn’t look good for him.”

“I’m absolutely sure that Orochimaru didn’t add that curse,” says Professor Tobirama.

“I’m not on the investigation and I can’t barge in on it. Hiruzen and Shimura are on it, and while they’re paranoid, they’re also experienced so please don’t try to obstruct their investigation.

“Madara, I’m not... I’m not just being loyal. I don’t think Sasuke is the only intended victim here. Someone slipped Orochimaru Amortentia brewed with Sasuke’s hair last month. He noticed, and Sakumo got him to his rooms and gave him the antidote, but. It was such a dangerous and stupid thing to do.”

“You think someone is after Orochimaru?”

“I don’t _know._ I don’t like not knowing what’s happening under my nose. One moment.”

Naruto wonders what distracted the professor and suddenly the door is being opened and he grabs Naruto’s collar. “Go to sleep, or I will dose you with a sleeping potion, Naruto. I am not in the mood for this.” Then the door shuts (quietly) in his face.

“Kushina’s kid, isn’t he?” asks the man, and Naruto frowns because he didn’t know that his mom knew Uchiha Madara.

“ _Go, Naruto,”_ says Professor Tobirama, and whoops, that’s his angry voice, so Naruto scurries for his bed.

He needs to tell his friends about this.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this story! Please leave a comment if you can!


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